Author of this blog post: Aurora.
It’s official! We are finally on a path to… Our Walkabout On Palawa Country: Three months of wild and woolly hiking in the rugged Tasmanian wilderness.
We have six months to plan, prepare, research, and get fit. But first things first… We needed to make a team emblem.
We brainstormed everything that came to our mind about Tasmania and researched some symbols. We wanted something visual that represented our strength as a team and our own learning and growth.
We came up with our team’s name: Our Walkabout On Palawa Country.
We learned that a walkabout is a transformation. The goal is to walk and survive in the wilderness, but also to discover yourself and a time for self-evaluation and reflection. Just as Aboriginal people used songlines as spoken maps, we need to learn how to learn modern instruments like a compass and a PLB. Our walkabout will give us the skills, resilience, and strength, for our learning and growth in the future.
We also want to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of Palawa Country and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture, and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
The colours we chose for our team’s name are the same colours as a new proposed Tasmanian flag.
The green represents the Tasmanian wilderness, the red represents the land, and the gold represents the blue gum which is native to Tasmania.
This is why we used the Tasmanian tiger and the blue gum to hold our emblem together. The Tasmanian tiger is a symbol of strength and bravery. Unfortunately, they are extinct because the settlers shot them all because they were a pest to their farmlands. Today the symbol serves as a reminder for us to look after our land and our wildlife.
The four feet represent our family, going on our walkabout around Tasmania and reminding us to stay grounded and connected to the land. The colours represent the four elements of life: water, fire, earth and air.
The centre dot of each circle in the map of Tasmania, are the locations of the thru-hikes that we will be tackling. We will be doing lots of day walks in between but below is the table of our thru-hikes.
| Trail Name | Kilometres | Days |
| Freycinet Peninsula Circuit | 27 KM | 3 Days |
| Maria Island | 48 KM | 4 Days |
| Cape Pillar | 29 KM | 3 Days |
| Frenchmans Cap | 54 KM | 5 Days |
| Walls Of Jerusalem | 43 KM | 3 Days |
| The Overland Track | 80 KM | 7 Days |
| South Coast Track | 85 KM | 8 Days |
This walkabout is six months away, but the journey has started. Looking at the terrain of the South Coast Track, we’d better get moving. 😊
References:
Flags For Australia
Walkabout – The Aboriginal Australian Hike That Serves As A Rite Of Passage